Charlotea
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2012
- Messages
- 228
So we are back from our once in a lifetime christmas trip to Disneyland Paris. We had an amazing time and loved the DLH as much as everyone said we would!
Highs
- Being reunited with our best friend Beth after she moved away to university in September was one of the best parts of our holiday! We met in the train station and it was like she had never left.
- the DLH was INCREDIBLE! We had a beautiful room which overlooked the turnstiles and the train station. We could see the top of the Christmas tree and hear the park music. If we looked out the windows a certain way at night we could see the top of the castle. It took us a grand total of 45 seconds to get from our room to the doors of the DLH. After we had checked in we were waiting for the lift when a cast member decided he would show us to our room. We are sure he was on his way to somewhere and thought it would be nice to direct us as we had clearly just checked in. This was very nice of him and made it even more special.
- We weren't charged for the macaroons which we sent payment for to have in our room which was really lovely.
- We had beautiful sunshine on Tuesday and we barely needed our coats on. (It rained persistently on Wednesday and Friday but we won't mention that!)
- EMH was our favourite time of day and seeing the park adjust to daylight was beautiful.
- The tree lighting ceremony was brilliant and made me feel very Christmassy. We loved it and much preferred it to Disney Dreams of Christmas! More on that later...
- Once we had sorted out our hotel fastpasses (see lows) they were really useful. It meant we could ride ratatouille altogether for the first time, after that we just used the single rider queue.
- Riding BTM in the dark was so much fun and it was great to go at this time of year as in the summer it wasn't dark until 20 minutes before Dreams started!
- I loved Ratatouille, it's one of my favourite rides at DLP I think, along with pirates and BTM. Beth wasn't bothered either way and it made Christie feel a bit travel sick!
- Breakfast was amazing! Beth did not stop talking about the scrambled egg and I loved the pancakes with syrup (how do they taste so good!) On Thursday we were seated in the overflow room which was not magical at all and it felt like were in back in the travelodge! On Friday we went to the park to have an hour of EMH then went back for breakfast with the intention to finish packing afterwards. When we made our way to Inventions we saw them directing people to the overflow room. Beth had the genius idea to go back to our room to pack first then go to breakfast and cross our fingers we would get to eat in Inventions one last time. We went back and were directed to California Grill which pleased us immensely as it had a better view and nicer area to choose your food. And it meant we had seen both resturants!
Lows (more like minor inconveniences as we can't say there were any real lows to this holiday)
- we weren't told (and didn't realise) the the DLH fastpasses had dates on, and as we only had one person booked into the room and added two more on at check in, they were printed weirdly so we used the wrong ones. Reception were less than happy to sort it out for us!
- Hakuna matata was shut all week. We ate here on our last trip and having been waiting to eat the chicken strips again ever since. In fact quite a few of the restaurants were closed.
- Some guests were quite rude and we overheard a gentleman in the queue for Carousel de Lancelot say that his kids would not get to ride a horse as there were too many adults in front and that people usually come to DLP with their kids!! I had been prepared to offer his kids my seat but not with a comment like that. We all pay to be there after all!
- Smoking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- The eurostar check in to come home was horrendous! The train was fully booked and despite getting to the train station at 3.20 the queue was already snaking all the way down the the escalator and back to the disney express desk. This caused some issues as we didn't know where the end of the queue was and we felt quite sad when a man accused us of pushing in! We had no desire to jump the queue we just wanted to know where to stand. Once through security we were held in an area before the escalator which was so full people were queuing on the stairs. Despite being the fourth family in our carriage there was no luggage room and we had to put our suitcases in between the seats.
- We weren't really taken by the merchandise and struggled to spend our money!
- I had been really looking forward to buying a stitch tsum tsum but he was not to be found anywhere. She also wanted a 2014 sorcerer Mickey pin but they only had 2015. I have identical ones with dates on from each of our trips so I was quite disappointed. If anyone has a 2014 one they would be willing to sell or trade with me I would happily oblige! I will post a picture of the one I mean shortly.
- we were not at all taken by Disney Dreams of Christmas and I renamed it Disney Dreams of Frozen. We watched it on Monday night and didn't bother again. We stood behind the hub on the right and the experience wasn't helped by children running onto the grass every two seconds and being told to move. I understand it's frustrating when they can't see but that's why you wait for a spot!
- On our last day we went to the studios for 10am so Christie and Beth could get Fastpasses for TOT and we could do single rider for Ratatouille. Well this plan went out of the window as the FP slot was for 2.30pm when we needed to be at the train station! The wait time said 5 minutes so in they went while I sat an waited....and waited....and waited... at 10.50am they finally emerged. This wouldn't have been an issue had we not needed to check out at 11! We had to run back to the DLH in the rain which was actually quite funny thinking about it.
Sorry this has been so long and that there are more highs than lows. We really did have a fantastic time and it still doesn't feel real that we have stayed in the big pink hotel!
Highs
- Being reunited with our best friend Beth after she moved away to university in September was one of the best parts of our holiday! We met in the train station and it was like she had never left.
- the DLH was INCREDIBLE! We had a beautiful room which overlooked the turnstiles and the train station. We could see the top of the Christmas tree and hear the park music. If we looked out the windows a certain way at night we could see the top of the castle. It took us a grand total of 45 seconds to get from our room to the doors of the DLH. After we had checked in we were waiting for the lift when a cast member decided he would show us to our room. We are sure he was on his way to somewhere and thought it would be nice to direct us as we had clearly just checked in. This was very nice of him and made it even more special.
- We weren't charged for the macaroons which we sent payment for to have in our room which was really lovely.
- We had beautiful sunshine on Tuesday and we barely needed our coats on. (It rained persistently on Wednesday and Friday but we won't mention that!)
- EMH was our favourite time of day and seeing the park adjust to daylight was beautiful.
- The tree lighting ceremony was brilliant and made me feel very Christmassy. We loved it and much preferred it to Disney Dreams of Christmas! More on that later...
- Once we had sorted out our hotel fastpasses (see lows) they were really useful. It meant we could ride ratatouille altogether for the first time, after that we just used the single rider queue.
- Riding BTM in the dark was so much fun and it was great to go at this time of year as in the summer it wasn't dark until 20 minutes before Dreams started!
- I loved Ratatouille, it's one of my favourite rides at DLP I think, along with pirates and BTM. Beth wasn't bothered either way and it made Christie feel a bit travel sick!
- Breakfast was amazing! Beth did not stop talking about the scrambled egg and I loved the pancakes with syrup (how do they taste so good!) On Thursday we were seated in the overflow room which was not magical at all and it felt like were in back in the travelodge! On Friday we went to the park to have an hour of EMH then went back for breakfast with the intention to finish packing afterwards. When we made our way to Inventions we saw them directing people to the overflow room. Beth had the genius idea to go back to our room to pack first then go to breakfast and cross our fingers we would get to eat in Inventions one last time. We went back and were directed to California Grill which pleased us immensely as it had a better view and nicer area to choose your food. And it meant we had seen both resturants!
Lows (more like minor inconveniences as we can't say there were any real lows to this holiday)
- we weren't told (and didn't realise) the the DLH fastpasses had dates on, and as we only had one person booked into the room and added two more on at check in, they were printed weirdly so we used the wrong ones. Reception were less than happy to sort it out for us!
- Hakuna matata was shut all week. We ate here on our last trip and having been waiting to eat the chicken strips again ever since. In fact quite a few of the restaurants were closed.
- Some guests were quite rude and we overheard a gentleman in the queue for Carousel de Lancelot say that his kids would not get to ride a horse as there were too many adults in front and that people usually come to DLP with their kids!! I had been prepared to offer his kids my seat but not with a comment like that. We all pay to be there after all!
- Smoking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- The eurostar check in to come home was horrendous! The train was fully booked and despite getting to the train station at 3.20 the queue was already snaking all the way down the the escalator and back to the disney express desk. This caused some issues as we didn't know where the end of the queue was and we felt quite sad when a man accused us of pushing in! We had no desire to jump the queue we just wanted to know where to stand. Once through security we were held in an area before the escalator which was so full people were queuing on the stairs. Despite being the fourth family in our carriage there was no luggage room and we had to put our suitcases in between the seats.
- We weren't really taken by the merchandise and struggled to spend our money!
- I had been really looking forward to buying a stitch tsum tsum but he was not to be found anywhere. She also wanted a 2014 sorcerer Mickey pin but they only had 2015. I have identical ones with dates on from each of our trips so I was quite disappointed. If anyone has a 2014 one they would be willing to sell or trade with me I would happily oblige! I will post a picture of the one I mean shortly.
- we were not at all taken by Disney Dreams of Christmas and I renamed it Disney Dreams of Frozen. We watched it on Monday night and didn't bother again. We stood behind the hub on the right and the experience wasn't helped by children running onto the grass every two seconds and being told to move. I understand it's frustrating when they can't see but that's why you wait for a spot!
- On our last day we went to the studios for 10am so Christie and Beth could get Fastpasses for TOT and we could do single rider for Ratatouille. Well this plan went out of the window as the FP slot was for 2.30pm when we needed to be at the train station! The wait time said 5 minutes so in they went while I sat an waited....and waited....and waited... at 10.50am they finally emerged. This wouldn't have been an issue had we not needed to check out at 11! We had to run back to the DLH in the rain which was actually quite funny thinking about it.
Sorry this has been so long and that there are more highs than lows. We really did have a fantastic time and it still doesn't feel real that we have stayed in the big pink hotel!
